GIs authorized to fire on Iraq looters / New overseer gets tough in struggle for law and order

Patrick E. Tyler, New York Times

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, May 14, 2003

2003-05-14 04:00:00 PDT Baghdad -- U.S. military forces in Iraq will have the authority to shoot looters on sight under a tough new security setup that will include hiring more police and banning ranking members of the Baath Party from public service, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

The far more muscular approach to bringing order to postwar Iraq was described on Tuesday in a senior staff meeting by the new U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer, the officials said. Bremer is expected to meet today with the leaders of Iraqi opposition groups that are seeking to form an interim government by the end of the month.

"He made it very clear that he is now in charge," said an official who attended the meeting. "And I think you are going to see a change in the rules of engagement within a few days to get the situation under control."

Asked what this meant, the official replied, "They are going to start shooting a few looters so that the word gets around" that assaults on property,

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hijacking automobiles and violent crimes will be dealt with using deadly force.

A tougher approach overall appears to be at the core of Bremer's mandate from President Bush to save the victory in Iraq from a descent into anarchy, a possibility that a number of U.S. officials and experts fear if steps are not taken quickly to check the violence and lawlessness.

EXPLOSIVE SITUATION

But imposing measures that call for the possible killing of young, unemployed and increasingly desperate Iraqis for looting appears to carry a certain level of risk due to the volatile sentiments in the streets. Gas lines snake through neighborhoods, garbage piles up, and the heat frequently provides combustion for short tempers that are not uncommonly directed at the U.S. presence.

Bremer did not spell out to senior members of the U.S. and British reconstruction team whether his authority would supersede that of Gen. David McKiernan, the land forces commander in the country.

But in tackling the security problem, Bremer will confront the need for a police force and the difficulty of building a credible one on the wreckage of Saddam Hussein's hated security establishment.

The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Bremer told his staff that his urgent priority was to rebuild a police force, especially in Baghdad, so it can become visible and available "on the streets."

Another tough measure that the officials said Bremer is eager to make public is a decree on de-Baathification, the process of weeding out senior members of Hussein's political establishment to ensure that the totalitarian principles on which the Baath Party ruled under his leadership are not perpetuated.

U.S. officials said that the decree on the Baath Party will prohibit its officials above certain ranks from serving in future governments. Rehabilitation procedures will be created for some high-ranking officials, but they would still be excluded from government service, the officials said.

Occupation authorities announced Tuesday that a doctor appointed to lead the rebuilding of Iraq's Health Ministry resigned after refusing the demand of his American supervisor to renounce the Baath Party.

The doctor, Ali Shnan al-Janabi, had publicly, if halfheartedly, surrendered his membership. But he refused to disavow the party and its estimated 1.5 million registered members. He said he had agreed to quit the party principally because he wanted the job.

Apart from al-Janabi's ambivalence about rejecting the party, his appointment to the top job drew great criticism from doctors and health workers who charged he was too deeply connected to the previous government to remain credible. Detractors demanded that he be replaced, while supporters said al-Janabi did not deserve to be blamed for the misdeeds of others.

SHIITE CLERIC ALTERS STAND

In the day's other major piece of news, a senior Muslim cleric recently returned from exile in Iran backtracked on his earlier appeals for the establishment of a "modern Islamic regime" in Iraq, calling instead for a democratic government.

"Neither an Islamic government nor a secular administration will work in Iraq, but a democratic state that respects Islam as the religion of a majority of the population," Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim said at a news conference in Najaf.

"Iraq needs a civil society and a popularly elected government that represents all ethnic, racial and religious groups."

Al-Hakim's comments, which contrasted with other statements he made in recent days, could be aimed at assuaging American fears of an Iranian-style clerical regime in Iraq.

His return Saturday after 23 years in exile is expected to reinforce Shiite demands for an important role in the future government after years of repression by Hussein's minority Sunni-dominated government.

Al-Hakim has repeatedly rejected religious extremism, even as he denounced the idea of any foreign-installed government.

On Tuesday, he also promised a more prominent role for women, whom he said had an "essential role to play in elections and reconstruction of the country."

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